October 6 & 10, 2017

Agenda - 10/10/2017Journal/IR

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Notes

The Code of Chivalry

Finish Beowulf Movie

Collect EC Worksheet

Homework: Have a lovely evening.

Writing Prompt –On your honor…

10/10/2017

Has your honor (pride – self-esteem, dignity, self-respect) ever been tested? How did you defend it?

¿Se ha probado su honor (orgullo - autoestima, dignidad, respeto de sí mismo)? ¿Cómo lo defendió?

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Unit Objectives

Students will be able to recognize the formula for a heroic journey in multiple works. They will also be able to clearly define what makes a literary hero and be able to identify whether a work contains a heroic journey. At the end of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge for the following essential questions:

How does fear affect us as a society and as individuals?

What makes someone honorable and/or virtuous/moral?

How can we use humility, faith, courage, and love to interpret and put into practice God’s moral code instead of society’s?

Medieval (Middle Ages) ca. 476 A.D. – 1453 A.D. This is the time between antiquity (Classical Greece, the Roman Empire, etc.) and the Renaissance.

More specifically, 476 A.D. marks the fall of the Western Roman Empire and 1453 A.D. marks the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire and a rebirth of the cultural movements of antiquity.

The Middle Ages stretches the period “between,” and encompasses a great deal of literature of both secular and religious works, including “adventure narratives.”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Time Period

Adventure narratives in this time period were dominated by stories from three areas or “matters”:

The Matter of Rome: stories of ancient Roman heroes involved in exciting adventure, physical or involving love – “Romance”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Adventure Narratives of the Middle Ages

The Matter of France: stories involving the French hero Roland (Orlando in Italian).

The Matter of Britain: stories involving chivalry, especially that of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Camelot) or Arthurian Legend.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Adventure Narratives of the Middle Ages

Somehow the Arthurian legends actually developed in the ancient world, probably with the Celts who would eventually make up Britain. Basic elements of the Arthurian legend were first

introduced into the literary world by Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain (ca. 1139)

Poetic translation of Roman de Brut by Layamon introduced the legends of Excalibur (famous sword)

French author Chretien de Troyes introduced Lancelot

The English Knight Sir Thomas Malory codified the Arthur legends in Morte D’Arthur (1485)

The Arthurian Legend

Arthurian legends even last to today with pop culture taking on the Matter of Britain (e.g., Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, Broadway’s Camelot, First Knight, and in satire, Monty Python’s Holy Grail)

The Arthurian Legend – Arthurian Legend Today

Chivalric Ideal: The Knights of the Round Table were

the most famous for this behavior in the Middle Ages.

The classic definition of chivalry:

men were brave, had honor, and

showed gallantry towards women;

Christian values in warfare (rules of

engagement because “the enemy is

my brother”); usually a good lover;

courtesy to all people is key—being

a gentleman in all situations is

important; willing to sacrifice

yourself for your lord and ladies (for the weak).

Arthurian Legend and Chivalry

Courtly Love: the love a knight

has for a woman who is generally

not his wife. It is a love from “afar”

and it is usually very superficial

(it is often explained, for example,

with a knight who is struck by

cupid’s arrow as he sees a beautiful

maiden walking out of a castle.

Arthurian Legend - Courtly Love

Courtly Love is also generally unattainable (at most, the knight may get a kiss, but that is all). Often the maiden is married to the King (e.g., Arthur & Guinevere and then Lancelot comes into the picture).

Courtly Love creates a situation where the knight seeks to impress the lady from afar by doing brave deeds and being the perfect gentleman (showing great chivalry).

Arthurian Legend - Courtly Love

Medieval romances (adventures) were frequently episodic as is the case with the Arthurian legends.

The best of these stories are carefully constructed (not at random) and the details tend to “count.”

SGGK is an example of this because it combines two distinct sort of adventures (the beheading contest and the events at Bercilak’s castle) .

Gawain’s trouthe (his real character) is repeatedly tested in this as well as his loyalty: to Arthur and to the chivalric code.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Elements of the Legends and This Story

Christian themes are major themes in the story, because not only is the poet a Christian, but the knights are as well.

It’s important to understand that the poet may not always be agreeing with the chivalric code.

Strangely, however, there are pagan Celtic themes as well, especially in dealing with nature and “magical” elements.

What is particularly important is the nature of Gawain’s“trouthe” or his “true character,” symbolized by the star on his shield or “Pentangle.”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight –Elements of the Legends and This Story

What the Pentangle symbolizes:

1. Five Senses Faultless 2. Five Fingers That Never Failed 3. Five Wounds of Christ 4. Five Joys of Mary:

A. Annunciation B. Nativity C. Resurrection D. Ascension E. Assumption

5. Gawain’s Virtues (boundless beneficence (being kind and charitable), brotherly love, pure mind, manners, & compassion)

The Pentangle

RomancePopular narrative since Middle Ages

Noble heroes, gallant love, the chivalric code, daring deeds

They involve far away setting

Depicts events unlike ordinary life

Idealizes the heroes, light-hearted in tone, involve fantasy

Vocabulary Legend: a non-historical or unverifiable story

handed down by oral tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical

Myth: a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with Gods or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

LegendCamelot is the most famous castle

and court associated with the legendary King Arthur

Camelot is a city in which everyone was treated equally with justice

Example: Legend of Big Foot

Myths

Contains a lesson within the story

A value that is universal (fear, death, honesty, persistence)

Example: The Tortoise and the Hare